Ten Weapons of the Astrals
by PandoraJail
Summary: When a weapon that was bathed by blood and only knew war was given an order to live, what would it do? A primal beast sent by the powers of Akasha into a world far different from what it knew must fight to survive.
1. Chapter 1

**Rewrite**

 **Shitty first fic with plot holes**

 **I own what I own**

\--

Circuit 1

A New Mission

\--

I was once an abused weapon.

A tool in the eyes of the people that used me.

I was naught but a toy that they would disspose of once they're bored of using me.

But I wasn't.

It was because I was a precious toy. A very powerful weapon. A useful tool.

I channeled all the rage that I kept hidden from my so called 'masters' on the battle field.

Eventhough I knew we were losing.

The fight between the astrals, beings of power that are able to create monsters named primal beast against the ones that came from the red sky. The astrals were able to create beings that were used to protect the world, but some were never used.

Why?

Because they're scared that it'll turn against them.

If they even tried to abuse their power, then those beast will turn and destroy them instead. And in this pointless war I was an important piece.

Playing the role of the strongest 'controllable' primal beast. I hate when they think of it that way. They think that they could control me.

What a joke.

They're even scared stiff when I glared at them. So much for beings of power. Some would be shaking in fear while trying to give me orders.

Like I ever listened to them.

The only person I would ever listen to is 'her'.

My creator.

Always wearing that glorious and regal white dress. Her silky dark blue hair and blood red eyes her slim yet powerful figure. She is like a goddess to me.

When every other astral would either be scared of my power or use me as a tool. She would show me love as if I was a family member.

One day when the war was raging, the stupid asshats that calls themself 'my superiors' sent me to a fools errand and ordered me to guard a shrine for no reason. But 'accidentaly' that island also happens to be where a small scale war was happening between the skydwellers.

Oh, did I mention about skydwellers?

They are the original races that lives in the world. Because the astrals came from a different dimension and all that shit. The astrals used their power to protect and govern the skydwellers.

Some regions were handed to some astrals because of shitty politics.

From there hell started.

Some astrals abused their powers and authorities and worked the skydwellers under their lands as slaves.

There were some that gave skydwellers good treatment under their rule, but the ones that were good was only a small portion.

And so there was a lot of hate going to the astrals and their creation.

So when the skydwellers saw a primal beast arrivinb on the scene, they changed their targets and made a temporary truce.

They were annihilated yes, but the shrine was destroyed in the process.

The shrine that was located at the other side of the island where the war was raging.

I can already tell whatwas happening and I hate it. The one thing that is going to bring down the astrals is themselves. Of course when I returned the astrals blamed my incompetence with those smug faces, repeating over and over how I couldn't do a simple task of guarding a shrine.

What's the pojnt of trying to get rid of me anyway. Isn't it better if I was helping fighting the skydwellers?

Can't they see that what I was doing is benefiting them?

Then they did the unforgiveable.

They attacked my creator, saying that it was her fault for creating such an useless being.

That was the last straw.

Well, in the end I did anything an angry-deadly-power wielding-primal beast would do.

I disposed them.

Those annoying jerks that could only think for themselves knew it was coming anyway.

But... the astrals didn't think like I did.

They saw this as a start of a rebellion. If one of their stronger weapons would rebel, then what about the weaker grunts? They aren't that strong, but if a lot of them gathered then it'll be trouble.

So they tried to dispose of me.

But before they were able to capture and kill me, my creator took me away.

She took me towards a distant island, on that island was a lab full of astral scientics.

Was.

I was ordered to dispose them by my creator, and that order was executed to perfection. Now all that is left is pieces of broken equiepment and machinery painted red with blood. She then led me to a chamber, on that chamber was the only other living being other than us.

The primal beast Akasha.

An extremely powerful primal beast, although it's power is extremely destructive it was never put on the field.

Why?

The astrals were afraid of their own creation. They gave it the terrifying ability to rewrite history. It could have won them the war even if they only used if once.

But instead they were afraid of the consequense of using it's power.

That was the rundown of what my creator said.

She walked closer to it's chamber and proceeded to enter some commands into the console. She then turned towards me. 'I will give you your first and final mission' she said. My creator has never given me a mission. She gave me an order yes, but an order from her is something that is effective immediately, something that has to be done right after it was said.

A mission is an objective that can last for an indefinite amount of time.

"I will use the power of Akasha to send you away."

Why is she doing this?

"According to the readings, it is only able to open the gate for a few seconds and it can only hold a person in it. I want you to go through it."

I was confused. If I went through the gate as she ordered what would happen to her? Won't she have nobody to protect her? I was her one and only creation, so won't she get attacked by the astrals?

Why does she care about me in the first place?

The closed door then begin banging, as astrals and their band of primal beast are trying to force their way through it.

"Hurry! We don't have much time, I'll open the gate."

She then begin typing something on the console as the banging grew louder. I managed to voice my question with a low voice.

"What about you."

She stopped typing. As there was silence between the creator and her primal beast, the only sound that they could hear was the banging that came from the door.

"I... have no intention of leaving here."

"Why? If you aren't leaving then why should I? My life's mission is to protect you so-"

"That's exactly why!" She shouted while slamming the console with her fist.

"I... created you out of spite. I created you to destroy the skydwellers, but... I just can't stand seeing you kill them." She walked closer towards me with each step.

"I was in grief because the skydwellers killed the important person in my life, so the other astrals saw this as a chance to use my power and created a primal beast." She was right in front of me, our face just a few inches apart. "Created you."

She embraced me in a tight hug. Wait what!? Creator is hugging me! Is this... what those skydwellers call... the feeling of bliss! If only this moment lasted forever... her hug tightens and my back was wet with something.

Were these... tears?

Was my creator... crying?

"I-I was angry... at those filthy skydwellers, we were just living in a hill like a normal family. We didn't do anything to them. But-" Her grip tightens once again.

"They killed her. They killed my sister when I was away. I returned to see her corpse burning in flames with our house... why? We didn't do anything to them... so why?

The astrals... they were just as bad. At my unstable state they used sweet words saying that they will kill them all, kill all of them, those ungratefull idiots that killed my sister.

At the time I came to my senses, they were all already dead. Every single villager on that island decimated... by you. I was happy that those trash died but, I saw you.

Your form, your voice, it all resembles... her. I subconciously created you in her form. I just... wanted to meet her so bad. But to see you, a primal beast of war in her form bathed in blood.

I couldn't take it. But not only do you look like her... your actions are the same. Always looking up to me with those bright eyes. I can't take it. Just looking at you reminds me of my mistake, my flaw.

So I want you to go away. Go somewhere far far away so that I won't be reminded of my failure."

She lets go of the hug and looked at me with teary eyes.

"I want you to live. Not as a weapon, but as a person. I want you to live life without regrets, I want you to succeed. That is my wish and you're final mission."

If only I could stop time and let this moment go on forever...

"But-"

The banging was louder and the door was starting to break. My creator saw this and returned to typing commands. A few more seconds and suddenly Akasha glowed then a blue vortex appeared on the floor.

"Hurry! Before they get inside!"

I was hesitant. Wouldn't anyone? If you were told to leave someone that you care for, won't you stay?

But if your wish is to be with a person, only for that same person to say that you should leave...

Won't that hurt you after you leave?

At that point I still didn't understand what I was suppose to do.

I was snapped out of my thoughts when I felt that I was falling.

I blinked twice only to see the face of my creator still filled with tears, as she pushed me into the vortex.

"Live by you own choices and don't regret them, Etherea."

And my vision was engulfed by a vortex of blue.

\--

Italy is pretty nice.

After getting pushed into the vortex by my creator, I was left spinning in the blue. I don't know how long I was in it. Maybe months, years, or maybe just a few minutes. I lost my sense of time in that damn thing.

When I stopped spinning I was really relieved. But instead I was unable to see nor move. So I once again waited, at one point I thought that I died because of creators miscalculation.

I was doubting her, my creator. A part of me that worshiped her is outraged for me thjnking that. While the logical part of me is doubting her.

But before the two of them could debate about it, I was 'pushed' out so to say. Then there was a light, and I felt a hand holding me.

I saw that it was a person garbed with white wearing a mask and rubber gloves. I was confused on why I couldn't move my body. The man then gave me to the woman that was lying on the bed.

I soon realized that what I went through was birth.

I was born at Italy with the name Etherea Flowerchild. Which is somehow the same name that my creator gave me.

I have a little sister who is one year younger named Xenovia Flowerchild.

Our parents were exorcists. As I quote 'We slay devils in the name of the Lord'. They were of course firm believers of the teachings of God, and they were what I would call, lackeys.

I was amazed on the world itself. The fact that it isn't a mass of floating islands is amazing on it's own. Then the fact that it's ROUND of all things.

Then the fact that there is only humans, there's no draphs or erunes anywhere to be seen.

I kept thinking on a way to return to my creators side. But whenever I do, I kept remembering her words.

'Live by your own choices and don't regret them, Etherea.'

So I by that order I will live my life here without regrets. No matter how much I want to return and disobey her orders, I just can't. I can't even disobey the orders that was given to me.

In the end I can't be my own person, and can only stay as a weapon that follows orders.

But... even if she tells me to not regret anything.

I can't help but regreting the fact that I left.

\--

It would seem that my sister has turned famous.

There was something that was held by the church that me and my sister went through. It would seem that it was to test someones affinity with the light element.

Because the light element is the weakness of devils, so the church are gathering people that has affinity towards that element.

I didn't pass it one bit, because I don't have any affinity towards it.

Or thats what I wanted them to believe.

I held back my powers, and by powers I meant the ability that was given to my body by my core. Because even though I have the body of a human, my core still stays the same.

In conclusion I have a new vessel with the same abilities.

But those abilities that I am able to use are really limited now. Because my vessel is significantly weaker, I can only use a small portion of my power.

Why I held back you ask?

These past few years living in Italy has made me think about my decision back then. I saw that the act of killing those shitty astrals was an act of uncontrollable emotion.

I could have think rationally about that problem, but I solved it with violence.

I saw that I was a person that went through wars and a whole lot of bloodshed. I never knew what it was like to live normally. So I think I found a reason to live.

To live a normal life.

A pretty simple wish right?

A wish that could be granted easily right?

Turns out I was wrong.

My sister and her affinity to light element wasn't the only thing that made her famous.

Holy sword Durandal.

A sword that was once used by Roland, a legendary paladin of Charlemagne. The swords destructive power and light properties is said to the legendary Excalibur that was used by king Arthur. Combined with the fact that it's indestructible meant that it was one of the strongest weapons with light properties there is.

It is said that it's wielder would be chosen by the sword itself. Because it is sentient, it became picky of it's user and doesn't want any normal people using it.

Xenovia was the wielder that it chose.

My parents was ecstatic, knowing that a child of theirs was chosen by God to use one of the strongest sword there was.

Me... I didn't actually cared. I was happy for her of course, but then that happiness turned into loneliness.

Ever since I was born I still had my mind intact, so I was bored when I had nothing to do. After Xenovia was born however, playing with her became a way to waste my time.

Ever sincr she was chosen by Durandal, even getting close to her was hard. Everywhere she went, there would be a whole group of exorcist or other religious people following her.

If I try to get close, those people would get angry and attack me.

The situation at home is worse though.

Because I held back my abilities on the test, my parents thought that I was worthless. They already have a prodigy as a daughter, the worthless trash that they though I was didn't mean anything to them.

They would act that I didn't exist, lock me in my room, and only give me food on certain occasions.

They were barely at the house anyway, Xenovia was taken in by the vatican for purposes, and my parent were usually of to do missions.

Even if they did come back they still won't acknowledge my existence

Thanks to this treatment, I barely come home anymore.

But the one time that I did.

There wasn't anybody home anymore.

\--

It was already night, so I went back to the house. They would usually lock the front door and my room. So I went out by sneaking through the window.

But that time the door was opened.

I stopped.

Something isn't right. I was sure that they were home.

My heart was racing.

I tried to think reasons why the door was opened.

(1) They forgot to close it

(2) Someone broke in

(2) is a more likely possibility, because they would close the door on reflex since they have been doing it for years now.

As I walked closer to the door, I saw that the lock was broken. There's no doubt about it, someone broke in. Question is, who did?

(1) A robber

(2) A serial killer/murderer

(3) A devil

A robber would have picked the lock and be as quite as possible. Some serial killers are mentally unstable, so I can't think of reasons why he/she would break in.

The most possible answer is...

Devils.

Beings of evil and darkness that takes human forms. The teachings of the church always portray them as manipulative beings that cause chaos where ever they went.

But I didn't believe it a bit.

The devils leader on their rebel against God was Lucifer right? Lucifer himself was a former angel, until he defied His orders and became a devil. He had his white wings stripled of its feathers and became bat like.

The other angel that falls after him had their white wings turned black instead.

But before that, weren't they just being that follows orders? Beings that are a weapon? A tool?

I for one admired Lucifer.

Of course I didn't tell anybody that I did. Ut would be stupid to just go to a church one day and say 'Hey Lucifer was right'. I'llget executed instantly if that happens!

The reason I admired him is because he was able to make his own decisions. He stilk stood tall, and even rallied the devils into a war against heaven.

And so he started the Great War.

His despise on humans are understandable, he was a being made from light and one of His greatest creation. For him to bow to a useless sack of meat is just disgusting.

Humanity does have its quality. But I know that most of its good is overshadowed by the bad.

My parents were exorcist themself, so they won't only slay devils. They would slay herectics too.

Which meant that there would be people trying to get revenge.

And so the (3) answer would be the correct answer.

Now how to confront this problem. I could go in but how would that help? I was a child, a fight against a possible group of devils doesn't sound favourable. And if my parents were figthing, if I went in I would just be a distraction.

So I went and hide myself in the bush under an open window.

True to my deduction, I could hear grunts and sounds of furniture breaking. Either my parents win, or the devils do. If my parents does, then I would have to be able to sneak in before they noticed I was gone. Or maybe they already do know that I was gone and that could cause problems.

If they lose however. Then there would be nobody to sustain myself financially, not to mention that the house will be a crime scene for the murder of two people. Or maybe the church would dispose of their bodies.

Not long the sound of fighting stopped. And in its place was a conversation.

"Did you dispose of the woman?" said a rough voice, it was probably a man judging by the weight of the voice.

That or it was a girl with great voice acting capability.

"Yea, it wasn't hard at all! Are these losers really the parents of the kid that had amazing light powers?" The voice came from another person, another man perhaps?

"Yes. And if the information was correct, there should be another child here."

"What, Another kid? Does she have powers like her sister?"

"No, she doesn't."

"They why the fuck should we care! The job was just to kill those two right?" The second one sounded agitated. He mention that it was a job to kill them? I guess they arent seeking revenge then.

"You are correct, I was just thinking how we should just dispose of her before she becomes a threat."

"Ha! A threat? A little shit with no powers? Don't make me laugh."

"There is always a chance that she holds a sacred gear."

The conversation went silent.

Sacred gear.

A weapon given by the gods to humans. It was daid that most historical figures that had great influence in the world has these weapons.

"Are you sure that she has one?" The second devil broke the silence.

"No, just an assumption."

The second devil clicked his tounge, "Do what you want, I'm leaving."

A few seconds later I felt a burst of mana and his presence leave the area.

"I know you're there, show yourself."

My heart stopped and dread filled the air.

How!?

How in the actual hell did he figured out that I was here!? I thought I masked my presence conpletely.

My hands were trembling, while my heart was beating so fast. I was hysteric, I know. I tried to calm myself, but I heard footsteps.

And they were growing louder.

My heart beat skyrocketed. Sweat was flowing down my forehead. I bit my lips until it drew blood to not let a scream of terror and dread run out of my mouth.

Then I heard him slam open a door.

"Not here huh."

My heart beat paced down to a normal and non-erratic. My hands stopped trembling, but I still feel dread all over my body.

"Oh well, guess I'll return."

In another wave of mana I felt him dissapear.

I let out the breath I was holding.

And passed out.

\--

"The devils sure did a work on them."

I was sent here by the church to see how the parents of the new wielder of Durandal was doing, but it would seem that the devils was faster than I was.

But from what I heard they had another child.

I only found two bodies, and they were adults. No sign of a child anywhere.

I searched inside the house and found nothing, I thought that the devils might have taken her.

But when I searched outside the house, I found a child with blue hair. She fits the description alright.

I picked her up and gently touched her cheeks.

"Wake up my child."

I saw her open her ruby red eyes. Its her alright.

"Who are you..." She asked weakly.

I only smiled and answered.

"My name is Valper Galilei, and would you like to come to my orphanage?"


	2. Chapter 2

**I own what I own**

\--

Circuit 2

Backstory To Tragedy

\--

There is a little church on a certain forest.

Rather than a church it acts more like an orphanage for orphans who seems to have potential and light affinity.

But rather than both of those, it acts more like a laboratory that treats the children there like cattle ready for slaugthering.

And the one who takes care of that church is none other than myself, Valper Galilei.

Today I decided to take in another child, while she doesnt have any light affinity she did came from a family of that new wielder of Durandal. She can just be used as a test subject to insert orbs with light affinity anyway.

At first she was scared of the other children, probably trauma of having her family slaugthered. But after a few weeks she started socializing with the other children.

Well it's not like I care, all that matters is the slight chance that even if the child doesn't have any light affinity, she could possibly have the affinity for holy weapons.

In truth it doesn't matter if the person doesn't have light affinity, if the weapon itself likes or recognizes the person, then there is a chance of them being able to use the swords ability. Having the light affinity does help though.

If not then she can be disposed of one way or another as a test subject.

While they weren't treated as humans, their conviction of being chosen by God is soo strong that it makes them not care about the treatment.

At the very least we gave them food so that they don't starve.

But the problem is that this isn't actually an operation that is supported by the church. Not the main one at the very least.

The Biblical faction, or rather the church under it is divivded. There are some who are truly devoted to the religion and joined the church so that they can further strengthen their belief and fight for it. This 'Believers' makes most of the people of the church.

Then there are some who joined the church and become exorcist in search for revenge agaisnt the devils or supernatural in general. Most of the exorcist are people who came from this faction, the 'Anti Supernaturalist'.

The main church is the one who is governed by angels directly, and are mostly made out of the 'Believers'. They would definetly not approve of theese method of research that I am doing.

So most of the funding is secretly given by the 'Anti Supernaturals' while a few people of the 'Believers' donated to the research as well.

The research itself is to transfer a persons light affinity to another, that and my own personal agenda of fusing the pieces of Excalibur.

I myself have once seen how dazzling that sword was in the battle field. Just the presence of the sword itself is able to purge lesser devils and weaken even the higher ranked devils.

If that dazzling light was made by only a fragment of Excalibur, think of how radiant the original fused sword would be.

Which shows the final faction that is inside the church, those who holds their beliefs like the 'Believers' and holds the hate against the supernatural as the 'Anti Supernaturalist', they are known as the 'Fanatics'.

Some people would just label these 'Fanatics' as crazy and they wouldn't be completely wrong.

But the problem is that the research isn't bearing fruit. Thinking that I smacked the table with both of my fist.

"Are they seriously going to cut my research budget! After all this time! When I am just so close too... no there's still time, if I'm able to get results than maybe-" My rambling was cut short by the knock on the door.

My face twisted from anger into a fake smile and asked "Who's there?"

The one who entered was none other than the child that I recently took in, Etherea Flowerchild sister to Xenovia Flowerchild whose name is now Xenovia Quarta after being taken in by the legendary Griselda Quarta.

Next to her was another child, she seems to be the next one to experiment on. An extra whose name doesn't need to be remembered.

"Ah, Anna huh. I was just about to call you in. Did you accompany her here Etherea?" Etherea nodded and patted the child in the head before leaving. It seems that she hasn't known the true nature of the facility yet.

But from the way that she saw the child next to me, I think that she is growing suspicious.

Every children who were taken in this room were children who weren't able to hold a holy sword.

But in the end everyone has a little bit affinity of light. The point of using theese children who couldn't hold a holy sword is to accumulate their small light affinity and stock pile them so that a person can hold a holy sword thanks to that stock piled holy affinity.

"Now then, shall we go in?"

She then followed me to the room next door.

Her screams were not heard due to the sound proofed walls there.

\--(BREAK)—

It has been a few weeks after I was brought in by Mr. Valper. The word that can describe the situation here would be 'gloomy'.

I'm starting to think that those children who are getting 'adopted' and 'left' has one thing in common. Where in a normal orphanage there should at least be a 'goodbye session' between children.

But instead every children doesn't seem to return after visiting Mr. Valper.

The older and more matured children who are also living here seems to already know this and looked somewhat depressed.

More and more children are dissapering. I was copying how they weren't able to hold a holy sword by suppressing my innate powers.

But I didn't do anything about the dissapearance of the children.

And I regretted that till this day.

\--(BREAK)—

It was supposed to be a normal day.

We were supposed to just eat breakfast and be over with it.

But instead we were gathered up in a single room.

Normally the children would be allowed to roam the building, while there would be several rooms that we would be prohibited from.

While some accepted their fate, some still held the small hope of living. And I was one of the children who held out to that small hope. I was the one who acted like a big sister to the younger children here. I kept telling them stories that I read in that cursed house.

After experiencing the fear of death, it would seem that I unconciously reverted into a more systematical approach to things. The fear, that single feeling that I felt driven me to believe that others bring misfortune.

It was proven by the fact that 'Mother' and 'Father' were the one who attracted the attention towards myself yes?

Though if you put it in a more logical manner, it would be my sister's fault for attracting attention to us. It was also thanks to that, both my 'Mother' and 'father' treated me like they did.

But in the end it was just me seeking an excuse.

The though of 'what if' never left my mind, not even untill today.

I would realize soon enough that this was the feeling of regret.

But the children here, even though they accepted their fate, even knowing that some of them doesn't have that much time here, they still accepted me as one of their own. I once again felt the feeling of having a family.

"And on top of that castle, the prince fought against the demon and saved the princess. And they lived happily ever-"

It was right when I was talking with someone when they bursted in.

Men dressed in black who were wearing gas masks who were carrying some sort of gun. The gun itself didn't shoot bullets but it let out a purple gas.

If I were in my original body then I shouldn't care due to my innate poison resistance. But in this fragile and weak human body, the moment I sniffed the gas itself I coughed up blood.

I once again felt the fear of dying.

I tried to run for the one and only exit since the windows were barred. But I was taken down by one of the men. "Hold still you little shit, this'll be over real soon." The man said in a low voice.

I struggled, trying to get away but with this body of mine I wasn't able to even push the man away. But suddenly someone threw themself into the man, it was a child with brown hair and same coloured eyes.

Thanks to the distraction I was able to excape the man's grip, but when I looked behind to the child again I could see determination in his face as he held the man down. It was a face that I have seen on the battlefield before.

'Go on without me' is simply what he is saying. No, it was they were all saying. When I look back at it, I should've seen the resolve in their eyes.

It was an expression that would be made by the many sky-dwellers that I fought before towards those who they consider friends or their important people.

Not even looking back I ran as fast as I can. At that point of time it was out of self preservation.

I didn't even notice the blonde that was running parallel to myself.

No, it was more likely that I didn't want to notice. It was simply the unconcious action that my body took to preserve and guarantee survival. The time that I spent on this church weren't long, but it was enough to build some sort of bonds with the other children.

It wasn't my intention to build bonds here, in fact I was the opposite.

As I continued to run deeper into the forest, I could feel the snow on my feet. Or to be exact, I couldn't feel my feet because of it.

But I couldn't stop running. The sun has already set, and the masked men brought out torches to search for us. But I never once looked back.

I continued to tread in the cold and snowy forest, slowly but surely getting further and further away the orphanage. I tried my best to stop myself from coughing up blood by holding up a hand on my mouth, but there was still red liquid that was flowing down.

I muted down the coughing that I heard from behind me as I continued to run as fast as I can. But the situation itself weren't doing me any favours.

I was sure that my own fragile body was breaking down and my own running speed is slowing down. I was sure that it was both due to the effect of both the enviorment and the poison combined. Then factor in the fact that my current body didn't have any sort of training at all which leads to a body with a low level of immune system.

It would be easily deduced that the one and only drive that kept me running was due to the fear of death.

It was thanks to that fear, that primal instict that was intilled on every single being was the one drive that kept me alive at that point. It was thanks to that primal instict that made me tune out everything around me.

At that point I didn't realized that the one who has been running parallel to myself had fallen.

But I continued.

Fueled only with the fear of death.

I lost track on how long I ran on the snowy forest. But I knew that this was coming to and end. Slowly but surely my pace slowed, slowly but surely my vision blurred. And before I knew my face had contacted the snow.

And slowly the white snow on the ground turned red.

And yet the one and only thing that was on my mind was the simplest of all instict.

"I don't want to die." I said out loud with the remaining energy that I had.

But no miracle happened.

There wasn't a prince that would come and save me.

The angels won't come down from heaven to save someone who prayed half hearthedly, not to save someone like myself.

The closest hope I could have was to be saved by a devil.

But unknowingly that hope was taken by the blonde who had already fallen.

And still, I wished for that miracle to happen.

But none of it would happen.

'If only I didn't hold back on that holy affinity exam...'

'If only I didn't go with that old man...'

'If only...'

Theese kinds of thought drifted on my mind.

"This is the end huh... to think that I would die like this... if only I was a normal girl..."

Eh?

Normal?

That question popped into my mind. Am I... normal?

No, I'm far from it aren't I?

From the start, the ability that I kept secret isn't at all normal right?

As I clawed the snow with my left hand, a staff twice the size of my body appeared. It was a golden staff adorned with purple gems and a purple handle.

The five soul staff easily appeared on my hand as I wished for it.

A weapon created with the purpose of healing, a weapon that amplifies the magic that are support based. It also amplifies light based magic attack.

"[Blessing of Light]." I whispered with the remaining strength of my body.

And soon the poison in my body disapeared. But even though the poison was gone my body itself still hurt like hell. I soon realized that my body was very, very weak.

Even if I was able to save myself, a sense of regret grew deep down. If only I used this power sooner then maybe I would have been able to save the others.

Why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why.

But at that time I didn't regretted it at all, at that time I was smiling due to the disapearance of the poison in my body. All that I had thought of was self preservation.

With the poison out of my system I ran once more.

But even with the poison out of my body, the body itself was still burdened due to running full speed for an untold amount of time. I didn't even realize that the men were no longer chasing me. But then a new danger arrived.

"Grrr."

A low growl was let out from behind a tree. I tried to stand, but my body was too tired. And soon a pack of wolves appeared from behind the tree. Six wolves with white fur started to walk towards me.

In my weakened state where I was using the [Five Soul Staff] to support myself, it would normally be dangerous to fight the pack of wolves in front of me.

'Ah, isn't this situation dangerous? Normally this kind of situation are dangerous aren't they?'

Even though I'm in this state, the normally hard and difficult even life threatening doesn't measure with the wars between the sky-dwellers and astrals.

'You can't even seem to compare any daily danger with a war though...'

As one of the wolves pounced towards me, a ball of light flew from the staff. And as it made contact with the wolf's stomach, a hole was left on where the ball made contact with the wolf.

The wolf then fell limply on the ground. The other wolves then took a step back, but then there were some who took another step forward. Those who took a step forward looked young though, it seemed that the older ones seemed more experienced.

'Ah, so the fear of death does exist in beasts too huh'

As a few more young wolves pounced towards me, they met the same fate as the first one.

Seeing this the older wolves then ran away.

I let out a sigh as I slumped down while holding the [Five Soul Staff]. Even controlling my magical energy and making all those balls of light were straining this body of mine.

'Ah, I'm feeling sleepy.' As I thought that my vision slowly grew darker. I decided to check my surrounding and check if it would be fine to sleep before falling asleep. At this point after deciding to throw away living a normal life, I seemed to have taken a more easy going look on any situation.

'it seemed that nobody followed me.' I then proceeded to sleep by leaning on a tree. It's cold so I created a ball of light that radiated a small amount of heat. After that my consciousness faded.

\--(BREAK)—

"I think it's this way." My eyes shot open as soon as I heard voices.

'Who was it that was coming here?' as I took a peek from behind the tree, I saw that It was THEM, it was the men that killed all the children. There was three of them, and the weapon that they brought wasn't the gun that sprayed poison like earlier.

'Ah, didn't I let them die though?' I was lost in my thought, but was pulled back into reality when I heard their footsteps. My heart raced raced faster than the slaughter of the wolves. Wolves were wolves, animals who goes with primal instict, humans however had common sense, imagination and feelings.

it maked my heart raced and was filled with fear. As the men walked closer and closer to the tree that I was on, I prepared the [Five Soul Staff, three balls of light then floated around the tip of the staff.

"Are you sure it was around here?" one of the men asked.

"There was a reading of light energy around here, Valper said it himself didn't he?" Answered another.

The man responded with, "Well, guess that's right. But to bring whoever back alive, is he really sure that one of those children did this? There was only two that escaped, and they're probably dead."

"Just search for the source." Answered the third man on their group.

As one of them closer, the first one who seemed to be in charge ordered them to split up. One of them decided to go near the tree I rested on. As soon as he was right next to the tree, a ball of light hit him right in the face.

Before he was able to scream however, the rest of the balls went to continuosly attack him. Different from the balls that slaugthered the wolves, these three balls were weaker and each carried only half of the wolf killers destructive ability.

So following the events of the wolves. After being hit by the third and final ball of light, the man was left headless. His body then slumped down and a pool of blood flowed from his neck and coloured the snow red. I didn't feel anything after killing him. I guess even after feeling fear for the first time, since death was a constant companion on the sky realm it didn't change even in this world.

The other men heard the sound of him falling and rushed his way. The two then pulled something out of their belt. That something then had a beam of light come out of it and formed a sword of light.

'So those are the sword that the people of the church used.' I thought as the two neared me. I poured magical energy into the [Five Soul Staff] to make more balls of light. And as four balls of light with the same qualities as before appeared, my body felt some sort of force was emiting pressure.

'So this body can only hold up to three balls of light without getting strained.'

"Sacred Gear! If we capture her now, we'll surely get a promotion! Capture her!" the leader ordered and the two of them rushed towards me.

One jumped to do an overhead slash while the other pulled some sort of gun and pointed it towards me and shot two bullets towards my feet.

Pointing the staff towards the man who was jumping, two of the balls went and flew towards him. The other two then flew towards the bullet.

The jumping man used his sword to block both the balls of light while the other two balls deflected the bullet. I forced my body to jump away, and I barely avoided the jumping man's attack.

He then continued his assault by swiping his light sword and tried to swipe away the staff from my hands. I was barely able to hold on to the staff, but was able to keep holding it by jumping to the side using his swing to gain momentum.

I poured more magical energy to the staff as I was falling, and three balls of light flew towards the man's head before he could react.

He was the second to fall in his group.

The third and final man instead of fighthing decided to warn the others by screaming "She's over here!"

'Eh! There's other groups!?' as soon as I thought that, I saw a few more people in the distance. 'So they were still searching while I was sleeping...' seeing that more and more people were coming, I saw that with my current state of not well rested and only strong enough to make around three balls of light, I won't be strong enough to take a full group where I didn't have the element of surprise.

I took the first man by surprise and granted him a swift death, the second one I was able to kill because he was looking down on me and he was also ordered to take me in alive.

But the third person signaled for help this means that he's already wary of me, I won't have the element of surprise this time. Plus adding the fact that the others that he called would also be wary, it certainly means that I won't have a high chance of winning in this weak and frail body.

'I'll have to escape... but how?' as my mind raced trying to find a solution out of this situation, my mind wandered to the many scenarios that could happen.

'Simply running away would just result in getting caught, fighthing is no good too, then the only way out would be magic isn't it? But since I focus in combat magic things like that would be...' I then remembered the one magic that I saw in this world.

The magic used by the devils who went and got rid of my parents, they used some sort of teleportation magic to leave didn't they? 'If I remake the magical energy that they used that time... this would be my one and only method of escaping huh.'

Seeing this as my one and only way of escape, I gathered my magical energy on the [Five Soul Staff]. As the magical energy gathered, a magic circle began forming under me.

"A devil summoning circle!? No, it's... inverted? How did this child-" before he was able to finish however, the others was already coming near and one of them shot his gun.

Seeing as I was more focused on creating the magic circle, I didn't notice bullet until it grazed my cheek. And when it did, I lost focus on the completely finishing the copy. But the magic still worked and I disapeared from the snowy forest.

While the men of the churh were left confused due to the shock on how a CHILD who they thought used holy type magic somehow used a dark and devil-like magic, I was falling through the air.

It wasn't that high, seeing as a second after the transportation I hit a bunch of branches on my way down. While it did slow my fall, in the end I hit the ground hard. Left with small cuts and bruises, I opened my eyes and saw the grassy ground.

"[Sunshine]." I casted and magical energy wrapped my body and accelerated my natural healing. As soon as my wounds were closed I stood up and looked around. Seeing nothing but greenery everywhere was a good change of pace at the very least.

I decided to then travel deeper into the forest. My journey on the Familiar Forest began that day.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sonic: Thanks**

 **Raitei410: I will try my hardest to destroy the harem route. As for Asia... I do have plans regarding that topic**

 **I own what I own**

\--

Circuit 3

Meeting The Loyal Hound

\--

A man with shoulder lenght crimson hair and blue-green eyes was sitting with papers on his hands. The man was wearing a white suit and a small purple tie with a ruby pendant on top of the tie and grey pants and black dress shoes. The room he was sitting in was intricate and classy, it was as if the room was owned by someone who was very rich. And indeed the man was, one of the richest, if not IS the richest in Hell.

The de facto leader of Hell, or more correctly the leader of the devils and in charge of domestic affairs. Sirzechs Lucifer formerly Gremory was reading reports that were given to him by the group who was in charge with the matter of the declining number of creatures who were in the Fammiliar Forest.

"So you're still reading that paper huh." Said a bewithingly beautiful and attractive young man appearing in his early twenties, with light blue eyes and green hair that is slicked back. He has a mysterious aura around him which makes him look slighly devilish.

Ajuka Belzeebub formerly Astaroth is the chief advisor for the tech departement and the creator of the evil pieces and rating game. The evil pieces which is the current solution for the declining numbers of devils due to the low number of birth rate by turning whoever and whatever being that was given this piece and turn them into devils.

The beings that are turned needs to be weaker from whoever hold the [King] piece who would either be a pure blooded devil or a high ranking devil. If the one who holds the [King] piece is weaker however, then the person who they are transforming won't turn into a devil. One of the most useful feature of this evil pieces are their ability to revive anyone who has died very recently and only if their souls hasn't passed on to the other side.

Sirzechs rubbed his temple with one of his hand while the other is still holding the papers. "To think that on her monthly leave someone decides to hunt on the Fammiliiar Forest... and you're sure that you couldn't track whoever entered the forest? From the flunctuation of energy you were able to track whoever did this right?" he asked his best friend.

Ajuka's face turned sour regarding that matter, "The magical circle was of devil origin that I can guarantee. " he pinched his nose and continued, "But it would seemed that whoever or whatever used it was interupted, making the precise location unkown."

The crimson haired man raised an eyebrow on his friends answer. "So you don't know where the person we are looking for is?" and to answer his question Ajuka snorts.

"The first people who would know and tells you would be that little group that you sent over. Because there was an interuption the magical energy that was used became erratic and wild, making it unable to actually transport the user to the location that the circle was first meant for." The green haired devil's frown turned into a smirk when he lifted a finger.

"I can tell you however that the person we are looking for are a human. Their exact number however, is unkown to even myself." Sirzechs looked towards his friend with surprise and a small smile formed on his face. "As expected, you are indeed very dependable old friend."

Ajuka showed a smug smile and pointed at himself "Of course! If I weren't dependable as I am, we wouldn't have gotten this far would we?" the two shared a small laugh before going back to the main topic.

Sirzechs was the first one to talk after the bout of laughter stopped between the two. "Now that we know that whoever used the magic circle is human, can we determine what they were after? The fact that whoever they are went to the Familiar Forest during Tiamat's leave couldn't possibly be a coincidence." He said while crossing his arms and leaning back on the lucious and comfy black chair.

Tiamat was none other than the Chaos Karma Dragon and one of the five Dragon Kings, the one and only female one at that and the strongest of the five. That by itself maked her one of the strongest dragons who currently roam free. She took part as the guardian of the Familiar Forest, the alpha of the forest that keeps the magical beings inside it tame to a certain level.

However there were months where she would leave the forest, this monthly leave would cause people who are guarding the outskirts of the forest to take action of making sure the beings inside it are tame to the same level that Tiamat does just by being there. Her presence as the Dragon King who rules overthe forest would make the monster inside it submit to her orders to a certain extent.

On this month during her monthly leave, the security of the Fammiliar forest is doubled and the entrance to the forest would be stricter than the usual, and that was talking a lot due to the fact that entry to the fammiliar forest is very strict from the beginning because it is the domain of Tiamat.

The reason for her monthly leaves were due to the fact that before the Great War one of the two Heavenly Dragons, Ddraig borrowed some of her treasure and never returned it. With Ddraig sealed inside the sacred gear known as [Boosted Gear] and unable to answer Tiamat's calls and question on this is a quote from Tiamat herself .

'How in the name of the fucking Biblical God did you lose the treasure that I lent to you, YOU FUCKING RED-SCALED, GREEN EYED, OVERGROWN LIZARD!'

That was exact quote, word to word.

"After two days I was able to pinpoint the exact location of where the human, or rather the magic circle appeared at." Ajuka then leaned on the bookshelf that was occupying the walls of the work scaoe of Sirzechs Lucifer. He took a random book from the bookshelf behind him and skimmed through it while continuing. "The south of the forest, thats where the magic circle appeared at, due to the interference and aild magic that fed it. With normal meand of searching, it should have taken at least a full week to decipher the location."

The Lucifer's smile never faded as he finished his best friends sentence, "But you who used means that are not normal are able to decipher it's location in just a mere two days." Ajuka closed the book he was holding and posed a question towards the leader of the devils. "So, whats in the report that you have in your hands."

Sirzechs eyed the report given to him by the scouting group that he sent and sighed, "It seemed that they didn't found anything on the West and North of the forest, the team on the south and east are still to busy with the magic beast that are acting violent and rampaging through their side of the forest. Either that or whoever we are searching are able to hide under the radar of high ranking devils... or powerful enough to kill them."

Sirzechs leaned forward, crossed his hand, and looked to Ajuka straigh in his eyes. "Whoever they are, they could be dangerous."

\--(BREAK)—

I am definetly in a dangerous position.

Hello everyone, it's Etherea. To lessen the stress that I have right now I decided to make this comedy skit for you readers while breaking the fourth wall. Or so I say while playfully hitting my head and sticking out my tongue.

In reality I was being chased by a group of magical dodo birds and was currently running for dear life.

Two days after falling into the forest, I found out that every living beings in this forest was magical and abnormal to the normal human eye. Though mostly these beast aren't that different from the ones under the blue skies that I was from.

But my current body was weak in almost every aspect. I do not have the body that was made by my creator, the body which doesn't feel pain, doesn't feel tired, has amazing reflex, and strong in most aspects that is needed in fighting.

I jumped over a root of a tree and shot an orb of light on one of the dodo birds, though it did damage it the monstrous dodo bird didn't instantly die. I clicked my tongue and jumped to grab a branch in order to avoid the beak of a magical dodo bird, the missed attack tore the bark of the tree which made jump to another branch.

Normally the magical beast in the Familiar Forest won't be as rabid as this, but due to the absence of Tiamat and without the alpha of the forest they are as agressive as they could go. Packs would attack others where they would usually be passive.

As I jumped from branch to branch in order to avoid the dod birds, I started to lose them. As as I feel that I was far enough, I let out a vreath that I was holding and slumped on the branch that I was currently standing on. After being chased for hours without rest, I couldn't help but release a sigh of relief.

'I won't hunt those that goes in pacts untill this body could get stronger.' I told myself.

I felt a surge of energy and changed mine so that it matched the tree behind me. As soon as I did, in the sky a group of flying devils could be sighted. When they were gone, I returned my energy into normal.

Not long after I got in the forest I sighted the group. They mostly searched from the air and would only search on the ground when an energy that is abnormal appeared. On my case, it's when I don't mask my reading to make it the same as the area around me.

The first time I saw them was around a few hours after I got here, they went down and left as soon as I hid myself and masked my energy reading. As to how I hid my energy, I can only say that it was because my soul, or rather core, was flexible.

This was due to me being a primal beast that was more of a jack-of-all trades and master of none type of deal. I was made to do many missions, be it normal hit missions or the infiltrations that was ordered by the peculiar astrals who wants to know the skydwellers on their jurisdiction is doing.

Those peculiar strals were the more open minded and un-hostile towards the skydwellers.

I healed myself with [Sunlight] and jumped down. My stomach growled and held a hand over it. my original plan was to attack only a single dodo bird, but after I made contact with it, it screeched and called out it's bretheren. So I was easily overwhelmed and decided to run away.

As decided to never go near the dodo birds untill I reach a certain level of strenght, I went out in search of an easier prey. A bow appeared on my hand.

A golden bow where the upper and lower limbs each makes a 'v' so the bow itself creates an 'x'. The golden grip had was decorated with blue colored crystal. On each of it's limbs was colored black with blue ornaments that complements the golden parts which forms into the shape of wings. The bow itself was slightly taller than me, although this is the altered version since the original [Two Crown Bow] was much bigger than this.

But the one thing that a person would comment on would be the the fact that there was no strings connecting each tip from the upper and lower limb of the bow and the fact that I had no arrows on me. I then pulled the air, as if the string was there. Soon an arrow of light formed and it flew as soon as I let the imaginary string go.

The arrow flew fast and made no sound at all, it soon found it's mark and pirced a rabbit with horns. The horned rabbit ceased to move and the arrow disappeared into motes of light. As I neared to go get the result of my hunt however, a black hound went and snatched it. The hound that took it was wounded all over.

I clicked my tounge and aimed an arrow at the hound, it weaved through the trees, jumped on branches, hid in the bushes and came out faster than before while still holding the horned rabbit in it's mouth even though it was in a heavily wounded state. But not once did it escaped my sight. I poured all my strenght into pulling the arrow and letting it fly, as it was flying I did my best to catch up on it.

The arrow flew and turned into a line of white, and hit the hound's back left leg as it was jumping from another brach making it fall into the ground with a 'thud'. When I caught up, the arrow was gone and leaving a wound with blood was slowly leaking through it, just like all the other wounds that it has in it's body. the hound took a stance as it growled at me.

I however took the body of the horned rabbit that it dropped. I contemplated wether to finish the hound or not, 'This hound did tried to steal the rabbit...' I thought as I starred into it's ligt blue eyes that were brimming with hostility. The stalemate between us stayed and the tension between us grew.

I then saw something from he corner of my eye and quickly shot an arrow in the blink of an eye. The fox was stratled by my sudden movement, but the sound of another dying horned rabbit was music to my ears. I gave the hound a glance and moved my focus to the horned rabbit that I dropped on the ground to shot the arrow. The quick shot that I just did really put a huge strain on my right arm, while it doesn't mean that I would lose to the wounded fox, it would leave me wounded after the battle would be over.

And that would make me an open target for other predators.

So instead I decided to look at it in the eye and gave it a 'follow me' signal' by moving my head a little. This forest is harsh and brutal, I haven't slept for the two days since I came here and bags were starting to form under my eyes. If I don't focus for a second, a random beast could come and make me it's lunch.

The hound still glared and growled at me with hostility. I pointed at the horned rabbit and then pointed it at the hound, it tilts it's head in confusion but still looked towards me with hostility. I sighed and pointed at it's wound, dispelled the [Two Crown Bow] and the [Five Soul Staff] appeared in it's steed. "[Sunshine]." And the wound at the back leg of the fox healed along with every other wound in it's body.

The hound looked bewildered, and spun around looking at the place where the wound used to be located on. It stopped and turned towards me, lowering the hostility only lessened by a small margin. I sighed and once again and motioned it to follow me.

The hound still brimming with hostility, decided to follow me. I made a small smile, and ran to the newly hunted horned rabbit. after grabbing the dead horned rabbit, I brought the two horned rabbit in one arm and went to my current base of operation while being followed by the hound.

Minutes passed as we made the journey in silence, but not once did we lose track of our surrounding. We made into my current base of operations, which was a meduim sized tree with a man sized hole on it.

I walked inside and sat down, the [Five Soul Staff] disappearing and was changed with another of my weapons. A dagger made from purple jewels of untold origin with a golden edge, the handle was also made out of a gold colored material with most of the daggers blade that was made out of purple jewel being covered by the same gold colored material. While originally the pair of blades was the size of half a broad sword, it was now the size of a... kitchen knife.

I used the [Four Sky Blade] to skin and get the innards out of the horned rabbits. 'For such a weapon to be used as the replacement of a cooking knife... this is for survival so it's okay!' I assured myself. The fox was just sitting outside patiently. With the job of skinning the horned rabbit done, I dispelled the [Four Sky Blade] and changed into the [Ten Wolf Gun] to cook it.

The [Ten Wolf Gun] took the form of a white handguns with golden trimmings, be it the front sight, trigger, rear sight, it was all made out of a golden colored material. But I myself knew that the material that was used to make my weapons were stronger than that.

I aimed the [Ten Wolf Gun] at the meat of the skinned horned rabbit and shot it with a fire of low heat. 'Using the weapon as a replacement for a stove... this is for survival so it's okay!' I assured myself just like when using the [Four Sky Blade]. When it was done cooking, I gave one to the fox, it stared at it in curiosity and susicion before finally eating it.

We ate the badly cooked horned rabbit in silence. I stopped eateng for a scond, 'Ah... when was the last time I ate together with someone?' when I think back we didn't eat together in the orphanage that was ran by that Valper Galilei we would be given food and eat it alone in a room while being observed. The hound eyed me who stopped eating, when I realized that I muttered a small sorry to the hound and continued eating.

The feeling in my chest felt heavier then ever.

\--(BREAK)—

" _What are you doing Serra?" I asked towards the small girl in front of me._

 _She was doing various poses and exercises. At that time I don't understand why she had done that._

 _"Hm? I'm training!" she answered enthusiastically._

 _"Why are you training?" I asked again._

 _"To get stronger of course!" once again she answered with a smile. "If I get stronger then I'll be able to protect everyone on the orphanage. We're all family after all!"_

 _Right as she finished that an older boy came and started brushing her hair. "Geez Serra, you sure are a hard worker. If so then I'll just have to train harder to protect you."_

 _"Ah! You don't have to do that Edmond! Since I'll protect everyone you can just take care of the garden!" and soon they just started bickering with each other._

 _Serra was the first of the children to go._

\--(BREAK)—

Unknowingly I had slept.

More likely I had passed out after eating the horned rabbit.

Was it poisonous? Did it had some sort of effect that knocks you out cold? This wasn't my first encounter with it's kind, but it was the first time that I ate it.

I was immediately set on alert, what happened while I was asleep? Of course I wouldn't know, due to being asleep myself.

But when I tried to stand up, I felt something heavy sitting on top of me. That heavy object being the black hound that was sleeping on top of me. It soon stirred awake thanks to my movements. The black hound looked straight at me with it's molten red eyes while slighly tilting it's head.

I stood up and streched my limbs, still wary of my surroundings. It seemed that nothing actually happened while the black hound and myself were asleep. It would seem that the forest has given me a well needed rest.

Unknowingly, it was due to the devils managing the small riot of those damned magical dodo birds.

I looked to the now not so hostile black hound and eyed it closely. It closely resembles one of those dobermans, but judging by it's agility and ability to have survived in this forest, it seems to be a more magical version.

Sadly my knowledge of magical beast were lacking, and thus I was unable to discern the species of the being that was laying in my current Hidey Hole.

Yes, my Hidey Hole. In my infinite wisdom as a primal beast who has been into countless battle field, I have decided to name this tree with a man sized hole of which is my current base of operation, Hidey Hole. It may not sound clever, but I was neither imaginative nor creative. I mostly lived by following orders and not think about them too much.

That and because my creator said that bases without a name aren't bases.

But the situation has changed... no, it changed years ago. It changed when I was sent here, to this world by my creator. But as I said before, I've only followed orders. Never in my life as an primal beast have I ever taught of doing something myself.

Well... except that one time were I decided to slaugther a few annoying astrals.

Was that what humans refer to as growth or evolution?

I closed my eyes and tried to think a simple question that most beings question themself with.

'What now?'

Trapped in a dangerous forest filled with magical beings, which is located in what I presume to be the Underworld, and what I also presume to be devils patroling the vicinity on certain times.

I'm not the primal beast that I was, my human body is weak, fragile, and can only channel a portion of the magical energy that my core has. The number of weapons that I can use and their respective abilities are weakened due to my body having to change their forms and sizes.

Even if I do survive in this forest, what would I do? Escape out of it and explore the Underworld? That idea by itself makes staying in this hell hole of a forest a better plan in general.

Staying in a forest filled with magical beast that will eat you alive, or escape and explore the Underworld where devils and the like seem to roam freely and potentialy suffer a fate worse than death.

I let out a breath, and opened my eyes. A blank and unreadable expression etched itself on my face.

"Guess I'll be staying here for a while." I muttered out loud.

At the very least, this feeling of freedom and the natural air was better than when I was on that damned orphanage.

As I finished gathering my thought, I felt a presence coming closer towards the Hidey Hole. I immediately went into a battle stance, with the [Four Sky Blade] appearing on both my hands as I went into a stance. The blade on my right was pointed downwards, while the one on my left was placed behind my head.

Behind me the black hound had stood up and was growling towards the source of the presence.

It felt as if the entire forest was silent, with the only source of sound being the rustling of leaves from the direction where the presence was coming from. Soon the presence made itself-themself known.

Them being a group made of three magical dodo birds.

I immediately felt a chill go down my spine, the last meeting with theese creature was one that I would rather not repeat. Because theese creature would call backup when facing any threats. Their strategy of quantity over quality is one that my current self is not able to handle.

If I had the full use of the [Three Tigers Axe] a single use of [Ground Zero] would definetly obliterate them. There would be a backlash, but recovering from it would be easy.

I tried to look for an escape route, only to see that all three of the magical birds are already rushing towards me as I think about the possibility of escaping. While initially shocked at their sudden attack, I was able to stop one of the bird's talons with the [Four Sky Blade]. One of the other two stopped their assault to face off with the black hound, the other one however managed to attack my side while I was holding one of them.

I was thrown and received a slash wound on my side, but I recovered from the throw right on time to dodge the attack of the first dodo bird and it flew past me. The two birds seeing me recover rushed once more. One from the front and the other from the back.

I fell into the same stance as before, but this time I made sure to make the outcome different from the last clash. Right as they were readying their talons to strike me, I struck them first. " [Carnage]." As I said the name of the skill, I tried to perform two strikes to each of the dodo birds that I was facing. Two of the strikes landed on each of the birds, while the other two missed because of the wound that they had inflicted.

However the two strike that had landed was powerful enough to send the two birds flying, stopping their rush and breaking their talons and wounding them. But my assault hadn't ended. To the downed bird, I threw the blade on my left with as much strenght as I could muster, which resulted in the blade lodging on it's body.

I recalled the blade to my hand. With the blade fading to thin air on the bird's body, more blood began pouring from the deep wound that I had inflicted. Thinking that it was out of commision for a while, I rushed to the other bird who had recovered itself.

We rushed towards each other, this time the dodo intended to attack with it's large beak. I crossed both blades in front of me and performed another skill. "[Gammadion Cross]." I said as I swung the two blades and forming a cross.

The bird's beak was harder than the talon that it attack with me before, but the [Gammadion Cross] was enough to shatter it as well as leaving a deep 'x' shaped wound on it's head, effectively killing it. I soon turned towards the downed dodo bird and once again throwing a blade towards it.

It didn't work this time however, as it used it's remaining energy of it's wounded body to dodge. It only granted him a few seconds in the world of the living, as the black hound mauled it's neck and killed it.

I looked towards the dodo that it had fought, and saw that it was in a similar state as the one before me. With the imminent threat gone, I did my best not to relax as I scanned my surroundings. Seeing and sensing that no more were coming towards us, I gathered and inspected the cropses of the three beast that we had killed.

During the inspection I found several wounds on the two that I had fought which I did not inflict. 'Perhaps they were already attacked before they got here. That would explain why theese three didn't call for backup, their pack was attacked so they ran away to safety and meeting the both of us was bad luck on their part.'

I once more immersed myself in thinking. 'Who attacked them? Was it the devils that kept patroling around here? Are they going to come over here? Should we run? Should we hide back in the Hidey Hole? I can mask my own energy to the area, and since the hound is from here it should be alright.'

So in the end I went back to the Hidey Hole carrying the corpse of the three magical dodo birds and masked my energy to the tree and hid inside. The hound followed me, but it didn't come inside and instead patroled around the tree.

Two weeks remained until the ruler of the Familiar Forest returns.


End file.
